COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS; Sales of Yugo End in U.S.

Reuters

Published: April 21, 1992

DETROIT, April 20—
The Yugo, which attracted motorists in the 1980's with its low sticker price but drove them away with its quality problems, has been withdrawn from the United States market, leaving dealers and owners in the lurch.

Yugo America Inc. told dealers in a letter last week that the compact car was a victim of civil strife in its European homeland.

The company, owned by Zavodi Crvena Zastava, the Yugoslav auto maker, filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Newark last week, seeking to liquidate its assets.

"Yugo America is done unless the factory decides it could find a new distributor," said Bruce Buechler, company attorney.

Ray Potts, service manager of Ken Smith Lincoln Mercury-Yugo-Peugeot in Ridgewood, N.J., said that shortly after he received the letter announcing Yugo's United States withdrawal he went to Yugo America headquarters in nearby Upper Saddle River. He found it locked and empty, he said.